College cops score defense supplies

Florida International University campus police have military-grade rifles. Ohio State has a Mine Resistant Ambush Protection vehicle. And Florida State has a brand new Army Humvee. These Pentagon hand-me-downs are just a few examples of the militarization of local police that has extended to college campuses — raising fresh questions about exactly why police departments would need such defense-grade hardware.

The Defense Department has been redistributing surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies since the early ’90s. But the recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri — intensified by local cops’ use of tanks and gas masks and their participation in the federal program — prompted President Barack Obama on Saturday to order a review of its appropriateness.

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Most items distributed through the Defense Logistics Agency’s Law Enforcement Support Office go to state and municipal government agencies. But a recent Freedom of Information Act request by MuckRock revealed that more than 100 college campuses with sworn-in police departments also participate in the 1033 program as of last December.

The institutions include community colleges, large research universities, liberal arts campuses and entire college systems.

Those departments can get anything from cold weather overalls to office furniture and supplies. A Central Washington University spokeswoman said her campus got a minivan and a generator.

And most of the equipment is small items that help with day-to-day operations at campus departments often strapped for cash, said David Perry, president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. Florida State, where Perry is also chief of police, used its cheap, but brand-new, $1,500 Humvee to navigate waters after a severe campus flood, he said. (Without the Defense Department discount, the Humvee could cost more than $200,000.)

“It’s not unusual — especially in this day and age — when you want opportunities to have equipment that will help you in special situations,” he said. Perry said a rollback of the program would be particularly damaging for campus police who are “already at somewhat of a disadvantage” due to limited budgets.

Obama isn’t the only one scrutinizing the program. So is Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who introduced the bipartisan Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014.

“The trend of transferring military-grade weapons is not only sweeping America’s small cities, it’s hitting American college campuses as well,” a Johnson spokesman said, adding that the congressman opposes such equipment on campuses. “Ohio State University recently acquired an MRAP. Apparently, college kids are getting too rowdy?”

But Ohio State spokesman Dan Hedman said the program is a valuable supplement to campus safety efforts. OSU’s main campus enrolls more than 57,000 students, and its police are responsible for the safety of hundreds of thousands of campus-goers annually, Hedman said, “making homeland security and the ability to respond at a moment’s notice to any disaster — natural or man-made — critical to our law enforcement needs.”

And Florida International Police Chief Alexander Casas said the 1033 program’s “significant cost savings” helps police better address community needs. FIU, with about 50,000 students, is a largely commuter school in South Florida.

“As trained, professional officers, we know well the difference between our role as law enforcement for our university community and the role of the military,” Casas said. “This equipment allows us to be better prepared to respond to a variety of critical incidents, from active shooter incidents to disaster recovery.”

As students return to campus for the fall term, many are wondering what Ferguson means for them, said Jen Day Shaw, associate vice president and dean of students at the University of Florida and chair of the Campus Safety Knowledge Community at NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

“I think most of our students would say that they really appreciate having a police department,” she said. (The University of Florida participates in the 1033 program, though Shaw wasn’t aware of it.) “But there are a good number of students and faculty who are asking questions about this.”

But those questions are more about creating a welcoming environment for students and how campus cops can use existing technology in the best way possible — for example, should police have on-person cameras that record confrontations with students?

“I’m not hearing a lot of the anti-police buzz,” Shaw said. “We’re really focusing more on the educational side of things.”